Chapman secures first win for Huntingdon in more than 10 years against Old Northamptonians, while St Ives beat Daventry and St Neots lose to Biggleswade

24/09/16 Midlands League One - Huntingdon v Dronfield - Huntingdon, Cambridge
Huntingdon's Reggie Reid (centre) was one of several try scorers for the Stags. Picture: David Johnson

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A SECOND-half comeback secured Huntingdon a narrow 43-40 win over Old Northamptonians in Midlands League 1E.

ONs were quickest out the blocks and it was 12-0 with 10 minutes gone, with the Stags having barely had a hand on the ball.

When they finally did get into the game, they levelled through a tries from Ted Chapman and Sam Durnan, with Chapman adding one conversion.

The frantic start to the game continued with both teams adding a converted try with Barnie West crossing for the Stags.

A relative period of calm followed but two late try from the ONs opened up a 14 point lead at the break.

A sweeping move covering half the length of the pitch allowed Reg Reid to touch down but, once again, the comeback was short-lived with the ONs sixth try, and fifth conversion, made it 40-26.

Despite Luke Murphy’s yellow card, the visitors were noticeably running out of steam and tries from Glen Mintyre and Richard North, both converted by Chapman, levelled the scores.

The Stags were then awarded a penalty seven minutes from time, which Chapman duly converted to take his personal points tally for the day to 18 and secure the Stags a fifth place finish in the league and their first win over Old Northamptonians since 2003.

St Ives secured a third place finish in Midlands 3E(S) with a 66-10 with over Daventry.

It was the third time in the past four games that the Bulls have put more than 60 points on their opponents, including a 91-0 drubbing of St Neots a few weeks ago.

And although it wasn’t enough to secure them a play-off place, captain Josh Dear believes it will provide a good foundation on which to build next season.

He said: “We have finished superbly (on Saturday).

“We need to be ready to work even harder during pre-season and put ourselves in a position to challenge for honours next season.”

It was a perfect start to the Bulls when, after soaking up a bit of pressure, Paul Ashbridge pounced on a loose ball and ran the full length of the pitch to dot down.

Soon after, a simple line out gained Ives good ball and a fine line from Ollie Raine was found by Michael Drake with the former crossing for their second try after only seven minutes.

Daventry slotted a penalty in response then defended earnestly to keep Ives at bay.

Their domination could not be stemmed for too much longer, however, and after a series of good line outs, the ball was spun out wide for Albiee Tayeszerwa to touch down in the corner.

The Bulls had to defend well to keep Daventry out in one of their rare forays into their 22, before a good break by Drake allowed him to feed in Ollie Barlett for the bonus point try and make it 26-3 at the break.

Daventry put Ives under pressure after the break, leading to a yellow for Duncan Williams, but were still unable to cross.

The Bulls then scored one of their tries of the season when quick line out ball was fed to Ashbridge who released the straight-running Will Nelson to touch down for the fifth try of the game.

Daventry’s injury count started to rise allowing Ives to put on a show of running rugby and two quick tries followed for Ashbridge and Raine.

Daventry did claw a converted try back before Williams scored again for Ives and Raine got his third.

With the clock ticking down, Nelson scored a final individual effort, with Ashbridge converting to take his own points haul to 16.